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When the College Football Playoff committee sits down to figure out its top 4 this week, it will look at each contender’s body of work and that won’t be good for Mississippi State.
Not only did the Bulldogs fall to Alabama 25-20, but they watched Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M, the three teams that comprised the best wins on the Bulldogs’ schedule, each lose in grand fashion. Both A&M and LSU lost to unranked teams while Georgia manhandled Auburn.
Mississippi State knew following its loss to Alabama that it might have a chance to stay in the top four simply based on the strength of its schedule, but while those wins might have been top-10 victories earlier in the season, they’re now wins against two teams with four losses and a team with three losses that has dropped two straight.
Texas A&M will fall out of the national rankings and LSU, which was No. 17, might be*just hanging on to a top-25 spot on Tuesday.
In the course of one weekend, Mississippi State went from having one of the nation’s best resumes to having one that might not be as good as some of the other one-loss teams.
Similarly, Florida State will remain in the top four on the strength of its come-from-behind win against Miami, but it has no scheduling cachet to help it should it lose. Coming into the day, Florida State had two wins against top 25 teams, but with Clemson and Notre Dame losing, the Seminoles likely will have no wins against ranked competition, leaving them vulnerable if they slip up.
With the strength of schedule element and a group of 12 people who are meticulously scrutinizing every schedule, it’s no longer just about what the playoff contender does, it’s also about what its best competition does.
It doesn’t matter that Mississippi State has been No. 1 since the rankings first surfaced. It’s been living on the edge with subpar performances against Kentucky and Arkansas and it came into Saturday’s game against the Tide a double-digit underdog. Mississippi State was hoping — maybe even relying — on the strength of those wins against LSU, Auburn and Texas A&M to get them out of this jam and keep them in the hunt for the playoff, but that likely won't be the case.
So, in Week 12, Mississippi State didn't just lose to Alabama, it also bore the brunt of the failure of Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M.
Here are the rest of the winner and losers from Week 12:
WINNERS
Nelson Agholor, Justin Hardy, Tajae Sharpe: Algohor, USC receiver, absolutely torched Cal, catching 16 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-30 win over the Bears. On any other week, East Carolina's Hardy 15 receptions for 181 yards and a touchdown would be the standout performance for a wideout, but it’s not his fault Agholor went wild, nor that his own Pirates lost a 54-46 shootout to Cincinnati. And hey, while we’re at it, how about Sharpe’s 13-catch, 239-yard effort in a 24-10 win for UMass over Ball State? Basically, it was the week of the receiver even before the sun came up on Saturday. But that's when it became the weekend of the running back.
Leon Allen, James Conner: Just like the receivers above, had it not been for Melvin Gordon's record breaking night, these two would take the cake. How’s this for a line – Allen ran 33 times for 345 yards and three touchdowns in*Western Kentucky's 52-24 pummeling of Army. And then there was James Conner. The Pittsburgh running back carried the ball 30 times for 220 yards and four touchdowns in a 40-35 loss to North Carolina on the road.
Rakeem Cato: All Cato does is win. He was tremendous in a 41-14 throttling of Rice, completing 23 of 27 passes for 297 yards and four touchdowns, and throwing an interception that wound up being relatively meaningless. In the process, he extended his FBS-record of consecutive games with a touchdown pass to 42, and passed Chad Pennington (115) in the school record books for career touchdown passes thrown with 117. The Thundering Herd remains undefeated with only UAB and Western Kentucky to play, continuing to build a case for a major bowl bid.
Keenan Reynolds: The scoreboard said Navy beat Georgia Southern 52-19, but really, Navy QB Kennan Reynolds was the one delivering the blows. Reynolds scored a ridiculous seven touchdowns, one through the air and six on the ground, in the blowout. He racked up 277 yards on 30 carries, and threw for 71 yards, while no other player on the team had more than 37 yards of offensive production. Reynolds now has 963 rushing yards, 707 yards through the air, and 22 total touchdowns. Oh, and Navy is 5-5 with a game against South Alabama before taking on 3-7 Army. Buckle up for that Dec. 13 showdown in Baltimore.
Tevin Coleman: Down to its third-string quarterback,*Indiana's offense is pretty much a one-man show at this point in the season. And that man is running back Tevin Coleman. The Hoosiers traveled to New Jersey to face Rutgers on Saturday and Coleman, the nation's second-leading rusher, went off. On 32 carries, Coleman, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound junior, racked up 307 yards and a score. Coleman's big day is the second most in a game in Indiana history. Despite his big day, the Scarlet Knights overcame an early deficit and won 45-23. Coleman now has 1,678 yards and 12 touchdowns this season.*
LOSERS
Florida: Went from up 17-10 and securing yet another win to further embolden the possibility that Will Muschamp may somehow save his job by winning out, to losing 23-20 in overtime to South Carolina and former head coach Steve Spurrier in the Swamp. Curtains. With Florida up 17-10 late in the fourth quarter, South Carolina blocked a Gator punt and took over at the Florida 34 with 39 seconds. Gamecocks QB Dylan Thompson swiftly moved his team down the field before Mike Davis fumbled and recovered a pitch from Thompson in the end zone to force overtime after the extra point. Florida went up 20-17 in overtime on a field goal, but Thompson ran in the game-winning score on the Gamecocks’ seventh play on offense. If it’s the end for Muschamp, it’s kind of amazing that he survived this long considering how bad things looked after the 42-13 loss to Missouri on Oct. 18.
Duke: Virginia Tech has done a lovely job of wrecking seasons this year. First beating Ohio State and making it a brutal uphill climb for the Buckeyes to creep into the College Football Playoff, and now doing the exact thing to the Blue Devils, who have to win their final two ACC games to win the Coastal Division via tiebreaker. And no offense to the Hokies, but Duke only has itself to blame. The three turnovers the Blue Devils committed wound up being converted into the entirety of Virginia Tech’s points. And sure, remaining games against North Carolina and Wake Forest seem well within Duke’s ability to win, but so did the Virginia Tech game.
Columbia: After a 30-27 loss to Cornell (also winless entering the contest), the Lions have dropped 20 straight, and this one was a heartbreaker. The Lions fell behind 21-0 to start the game, but rallied back to take a 27-21 lead on a Cameron Molina run. The ensuing extra point was blocked and returned by Cornell for two points, meaning when Big Red running back Luke Hagy scored a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, it wound up putting Cornell up 30-27 instead of tying the game at 28-28. So close for the Lions, yet so far away. But hey, there’s always Brown next week?
Washington: The Huskies, who at one point led the game 17-7, fumbled the ball away with 1:26 left in the game against Arizona up two at 26-24. To cap off the collapse, Washington head coach Chris Petersen called a timeout as Arizona kicker Casey Skowron lined up and missed the field goal to win the game. Naturally, when he came back from the timeout, Skowron smoked the game winner down the middle of the uprights and the Wildcats rejoiced. Instead of a road upset against the No. 14 team in the nation, the Huskies get a long trip home to think about their 2-5 mark in the Pac-12.
SMU: Oh, we were so close to putting you in the winners column SMU. So. Stinking. Close. The Mustangs were leading South Florida 13-7 in the fourth quarter on Saturday until USF QB Mike White threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Andre Davis with four seconds left. It was the second fourth-quarter touchdown pass White threw, too. USF had been shut out until there were fewer than eight minutes remaining. Was this 0-9 SMU's best chance at a win? The Mustangs finish the year with trips to Central Florida and UConn and a home game against Houston. But on the bright side, the average score of an SMU game went from 46-9 to 43-10, so that's nice.
Max Thompson, Sam Cooper and Nick Bromberg contributed to this post
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Not only did the Bulldogs fall to Alabama 25-20, but they watched Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M, the three teams that comprised the best wins on the Bulldogs’ schedule, each lose in grand fashion. Both A&M and LSU lost to unranked teams while Georgia manhandled Auburn.
Mississippi State knew following its loss to Alabama that it might have a chance to stay in the top four simply based on the strength of its schedule, but while those wins might have been top-10 victories earlier in the season, they’re now wins against two teams with four losses and a team with three losses that has dropped two straight.
Texas A&M will fall out of the national rankings and LSU, which was No. 17, might be*just hanging on to a top-25 spot on Tuesday.
In the course of one weekend, Mississippi State went from having one of the nation’s best resumes to having one that might not be as good as some of the other one-loss teams.
Similarly, Florida State will remain in the top four on the strength of its come-from-behind win against Miami, but it has no scheduling cachet to help it should it lose. Coming into the day, Florida State had two wins against top 25 teams, but with Clemson and Notre Dame losing, the Seminoles likely will have no wins against ranked competition, leaving them vulnerable if they slip up.
With the strength of schedule element and a group of 12 people who are meticulously scrutinizing every schedule, it’s no longer just about what the playoff contender does, it’s also about what its best competition does.
It doesn’t matter that Mississippi State has been No. 1 since the rankings first surfaced. It’s been living on the edge with subpar performances against Kentucky and Arkansas and it came into Saturday’s game against the Tide a double-digit underdog. Mississippi State was hoping — maybe even relying — on the strength of those wins against LSU, Auburn and Texas A&M to get them out of this jam and keep them in the hunt for the playoff, but that likely won't be the case.
So, in Week 12, Mississippi State didn't just lose to Alabama, it also bore the brunt of the failure of Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M.
Here are the rest of the winner and losers from Week 12:
WINNERS
Leon Allen, James Conner: Just like the receivers above, had it not been for Melvin Gordon's record breaking night, these two would take the cake. How’s this for a line – Allen ran 33 times for 345 yards and three touchdowns in*Western Kentucky's 52-24 pummeling of Army. And then there was James Conner. The Pittsburgh running back carried the ball 30 times for 220 yards and four touchdowns in a 40-35 loss to North Carolina on the road.
Rakeem Cato: All Cato does is win. He was tremendous in a 41-14 throttling of Rice, completing 23 of 27 passes for 297 yards and four touchdowns, and throwing an interception that wound up being relatively meaningless. In the process, he extended his FBS-record of consecutive games with a touchdown pass to 42, and passed Chad Pennington (115) in the school record books for career touchdown passes thrown with 117. The Thundering Herd remains undefeated with only UAB and Western Kentucky to play, continuing to build a case for a major bowl bid.
Tevin Coleman: Down to its third-string quarterback,*Indiana's offense is pretty much a one-man show at this point in the season. And that man is running back Tevin Coleman. The Hoosiers traveled to New Jersey to face Rutgers on Saturday and Coleman, the nation's second-leading rusher, went off. On 32 carries, Coleman, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound junior, racked up 307 yards and a score. Coleman's big day is the second most in a game in Indiana history. Despite his big day, the Scarlet Knights overcame an early deficit and won 45-23. Coleman now has 1,678 yards and 12 touchdowns this season.*
LOSERS
Duke: Virginia Tech has done a lovely job of wrecking seasons this year. First beating Ohio State and making it a brutal uphill climb for the Buckeyes to creep into the College Football Playoff, and now doing the exact thing to the Blue Devils, who have to win their final two ACC games to win the Coastal Division via tiebreaker. And no offense to the Hokies, but Duke only has itself to blame. The three turnovers the Blue Devils committed wound up being converted into the entirety of Virginia Tech’s points. And sure, remaining games against North Carolina and Wake Forest seem well within Duke’s ability to win, but so did the Virginia Tech game.
Columbia: After a 30-27 loss to Cornell (also winless entering the contest), the Lions have dropped 20 straight, and this one was a heartbreaker. The Lions fell behind 21-0 to start the game, but rallied back to take a 27-21 lead on a Cameron Molina run. The ensuing extra point was blocked and returned by Cornell for two points, meaning when Big Red running back Luke Hagy scored a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, it wound up putting Cornell up 30-27 instead of tying the game at 28-28. So close for the Lions, yet so far away. But hey, there’s always Brown next week?
SMU: Oh, we were so close to putting you in the winners column SMU. So. Stinking. Close. The Mustangs were leading South Florida 13-7 in the fourth quarter on Saturday until USF QB Mike White threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Andre Davis with four seconds left. It was the second fourth-quarter touchdown pass White threw, too. USF had been shut out until there were fewer than eight minutes remaining. Was this 0-9 SMU's best chance at a win? The Mustangs finish the year with trips to Central Florida and UConn and a home game against Houston. But on the bright side, the average score of an SMU game went from 46-9 to 43-10, so that's nice.
Max Thompson, Sam Cooper and Nick Bromberg contributed to this post
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturdayAnd don’t forget to keep up with all of Graham’s thoughts, witty comments and college football discussions on Facebook